Allies Out There
by Myevltwin
Summary: How far can you fall to despair before you are raised by the hands of others and guided to the warm embrace of the light and learn the truth that you are never alone? We thought we were alone, but we do have allies out there that are willing to help us face the cold storm ahead.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own Vandread.

A/N

This story is entirely fan-made and fictional. Any acts that you might find offensive, disguising, inhuman, wrong or just don't like, we are not liable for. You are reading this story of your own free will and not being forced, if you don't like something we are not forcing you to stay and read it. Please leave the page and re-frame from reading the chapter and or story. All Copyrighted Characters belong to their respect owners. We don't claim anything that is not our own creation and are merely using them for fan made material.

I accept constructive criticize and help but being rude and disrespectful will not be tolerated. This is done for the fun of writing not to make every little person happy, while making people happy with are stories is great we are not here for Money, Fame or Fortune this is done for the simply joy of writing.

Prologue

Barnette pushed down on the controls and the Dread took a nosedive through the debris field. She yanked back on the controls, straining as the G's put on her body almost became unbearable. Her Dread threatened to come apart. It held together, the bottom of it scrapping against the shredded hull of another ship nearly two-times the size of the _Nirvana_. When she cleared the debris field, she jerked the Dread around, hit the brakes, and two speeding red blurs darted over and under her. She opened fire. The heavy rounds ripped clean through the first one, blowing it to pieces in a flash of thunder and light. The second one escaped, but not unscathed. It drifted to the left and disappeared in the debris field.

Barnette cursed and followed after it.

Two hours ago they came across two ships that had been ripped clean apart by something and a station already breaking up from damages sustained in battle and the planet that it hovered as it was being ripped towards it. In a few hours the station would fall to the planet and all of its resources would be gone. That was something that they couldn't allow to happen.

So they were sent out to get the supplies while a small detachment stayed out and provided security for the others. Since the _Nirvana_ didn't have any defensive weapons it was forced to stay back while the few Dreads that remained out circled the area for their enemy.

They didn't have to wait long.

A few Harvester Cubes showed up, but were quickly dealt with. They had hoped that they got them before they could get a message off to their Mothership. Their hope turned to fear in a matter of minutes. A small fleet of Harvester Cubes and Egg Carriers showed up. Outnumbered and forced to fight a defensive battle, it was only a matter of time before things truly turned sideways for them all. The supply team was thankfully able to get out before the station was forcibly shoved into the atmosphere of the planet.

A little over thirty minute ago the station began to burn up on reentry and in a matter of minutes it was going to hit the planet. While there was no life on the planet, that didn't mean that anyone was happy about it. The team that had gone inside it had only managed to cover a third of it before the enemy showed up. They were low on food, water, ammunition, and parts. It was estimated that they only managed to secure about twenty percent of their required needs.

Barnette's Dread rocked to the side. A pillar of fire shot up in front of her. She had no choice but to go through it.

"Everyone be careful!" Meia's voice broke through the channel. "They're blowing up the vessels in the debris field! All pilots are to pull away from the debris field and cover those that are still near it!"

Barnette forced her controls to the side and ripped her Dread upwards away from it. Another pillar of fire shot up front of her. She barreled through it. Four Cube-types greeted her on the side and forced her downwards back to the mess of explosion. Her Dread shuddered as it passed through the spinning halos of destruction. One of the Cube-types latched on to the front of her machine. She wasn't sure, but it looked as though it looked at her with an evil glint before a ball of fire consumed her. Her harness snapped. She was thrown against the protective glass of her canopy.

Another explosion rocked through the Dread. It lurched backwards and she heard three distinctive clamps on either side of her. Getting back to her controls, a warning flashed on screen and it showed a picture of her machine with the left wing ripped off. She'd manage. She flew it with less. Her engines went out. Another alarm and that was when she knew they had her dead to rights.

Gravity turned off. She floated upwards. It turned back on and she slammed back into her sit. Another explosion tore through her Dread and this one sent her spiraling. She could see the planet, the _Nirvana_ , the debris field, and the others all fighting for their lives against the Harvester Fleet before it all looped back to the first thing she saw. She tumbled through the cockpit of her craft for almost an eternity before it righted itself and blistering hit touched her skin. Garbled cries broke through her radio and before long it was nothing but static.

Barnette tried to gain control of her Dread from the internal struggle of the gravity well that was the planet behind her. Black smock obscured her view. She tasted cooper in her mouth as sweet glistened off her forehead. The collision alarmed sounded. All color drained from her face. Her fate was sealed. 

The smoke cleared and she saw the mountain ridge come into view. Her Dread smashed against the side of the ridge, forcing it into a spin. Barnette wanted to throw up as the force exerted on her body was too much for her to take. It came to a crashing halt as her speeding remains of the ship hit something hard that slowed to a near crawl. She slammed against the dash board, screamed in pain as her arm twisted and broke at the elbow. Her head bounced off the dashboard and she slipped into darkness. The last thing she remembered seeing were a few shadows standing over her form.

"Hold on! We'll get you out of here. Just stay with us!"

(-)

Barnette's eyes cracked open and the blurry image of a shadow passed over her. "…Duerro?" The shadow said something, but she couldn't make it out as its hand ran over her body, doing something that she couldn't follow. Barnette tried to focus on something else in the room, but her mind drew nothing but blanks to what she saw. She awoke when jostled. Her mind didn't clear and the shadow was soon over her again. "…Duerro?"

"No," the male voice said, clear as day.

Barnette's mind emptied and she snapped to the world of the living fully as she jolted upright and screamed. Pain like nothing she'd felt before rocked her body and she collapsed on the bed crying.

"Don't do that!" The voice said in alarm. "You'll tear your stitches!" Large hands grabbed her shoulder to hold her down while another was run over her abdomen. Barnette shook her head as she screamed in protest and in pain. "Stop thrashing! You're tearing your stitches up and bleeding again. Trig, I need some help in here!"

Barnette continued to scream and cry as another pair of hands held her on her side.

"She tore both sets out," the male said. "Hold her still while I give her a sedative. I can't work like this."

Barnette fought and fought until all her strength was gone and the weight of the world crashed on her eyelids. She awoke hours later with shackles on her wrist and ankles. The same shadow stood over her.

"Sorry about the restraints, but they're for my protection and your own."

Barnette tried to fight against them, but then gave up. The shadowed figure was a heavyset man with dark skin and a chubby face with stubble for hair. It was hard to tell if he was bald or had cut it not long ago.

"Where am I?"

"Onboard the _Almighty April_. I'm Doctor William. You're lucky to be alive… what with all your thrashing and constant bleeding." He shook his head. "They brought you to me to get patched up. How you survived that crash is beyond me. But, I'm not a pilot. So I suppose I can't say anything about it. Still, you should be dead."

Barnette tuned him out and looked around the room. Matching white walls and ceiling mixed with the disinfectant spray smell; she was in a hospital or medical ward.

"Crash?" she asked him, sounding unsure.

Fire and yells exploded in her mind. It rushed back to her quickly enough. She had been fighting above a planet with their enemy when the debris field that was a dozen ships began exploding. Fire consumed part of her Dread and then there was the loss of her thrusters. She remembered calling for help, but the fighters pushed her down to the planet and kept her friends away. The last thing she remembered was mountains and then unbelievable pain. The fear of dying had never been more real than in that moment for her.

"You've been out for two days," William told her. He grabbed a cup and filled with it water. "In case you're curious, you sustained massive internal bleeding, a piercing wound through the abdomen that almost nicked your small intestine and destroyed your right ovary, a concussion, broken right arm at the elbow, a four cracked ribs. You're chances of having kids are pretty well shot." Barnette looked at the restraints when he presented the cup. "Do you promise not to thrash around anymore? I haven't slept since Trig and Avalanche brought you in."

"I won't fight anymore." He sat the cup down and removed her restraints. Barnette lifted her shirt and looked at the mass of tape that now covered her abdomen. It hurt more to see it than to feel it. Small patches of blood had already begun to seep through the cloth and was no doubt marking the change for some new bandages. "I don't suppose you know where my clothes are, do you?"

William looked to the hamper on the left. "We had to throw them away when you came in," he confessed, much to her horror. "They were soaked with fuel and your blood. It wouldn't ever come out. And the damage done to them was… a little more revealing than what they previous had been. You wouldn't have anything to cover up your lower half if you wanted to wear that." Barnette had the decency to blush. There were something's that just weren't easy in revealing, even to a man. "Don't worry about clothes. Trig has a pair you can use until we get to our world."

"And who is Trig?"

"One of the pilots that found you on that death trap of a planet," he informed her. William returned to a makeshift desk and tapped on a keyboard. Barnette tried to see what he was doing, but the pain from her injuries made it hard to move. Her entire body felt stiff. She needed a massage or a nice soak in a hot bath. She'd take both at this point but wouldn't be picky either. "Once we've cleared this zone we're going to have you interrogated. I'll be in the room to monitor your vitals. You're still not cleared to leave. So if you feel stressed, let me know and I'll have them back off as best as I can. I'm just a doctor with little respect or authority in the military."

Barnette wasn't sure if that was a joke or a lie. She settled for a bit of both.

"Do you want something to eat? We don't have the best food here, but its food so it's better than starving."

The pirates' stomach grumbled before she could open her mouth with an angry retort. William turned just enough so that she could see his eyes roam over her before he turned back and typed on the keyboard some more. Barnette snorted angrily that her stomach would betray her to a man so easily, but found that her strength was too weak to endure the pain of keeping up her tough appearance before her most hated enemy.

A short time later a man came in holding a small tray with a cover. The two males had a small talk before it was placed down on a small stand. With some maneuvering it was placed in front of her and the cover was taken off. It was everything Barnette had remembered about hospital food. It was never good or appealing to the eye, not unless you got hurt on the _Nirvana_ , then it was good cooking that was appealing to the eye. In short order she devoured the food and waited for William to begin speaking again. He continued to type away on the keyboard for another hour before standing up and moving to her side.

"We need to change the bandages now," he told her. Barnette paled. "Don't worry; we have female nurses that can do this if you're uncomfortable with me doing."

"I would very much like a woman to do it, thank you very much!"

William backed off and called for the nurses. A single guard entered with the two nurses and motioned for the Doctor to follow. William departed with a smile and once out of the room, the two nurses began working on Barnette. A million questions popped in her mind. Why were these women working with the men? Sure she didn't have much of an excuse given that she was working with three men back on the _Nirvana_ but that was different. This didn't seem forced. This was more consensual. Five minutes of patching her up and they left. William entered not a moment later with the guard tailing him. They whispered quietly and once the guard left, William muttered a whisper curse.

"You don't like him?"

William laughed. "It's not that I don't like _her_ it's that I don't like how they want to start interrogating you now rather than waiting the full three day requirement. The only reason they don't want to is the nature of their voyage out here. If you know anything about the destruction of the _Inquisitor_ , _Vanquisher_ , and the _Exile_ , I'd suggest you talk quickly. According to your broken flight recorder, you had a battle of some sort over the planet. Dangerous."

"I fought something else. I was there to steal supplies for our voyage home. We honored the dead, per our captains' request."

"Well, let's hope that holds up. Otherwise, you're looking at a quick and painless death." She tensed. "I do hate Airlock Diplomacy. So mean and cruel." William went back to his computer and began furiously typing away at it.

Barnette gulped at the very thought of this _diplomacy_. She fought an inner war with her mind to try and remember what had happened during the fight. Nothing aside from her scream of fear and the pain that latter followed came to mind. It was a tough fight she had fought and ultimately lost, but it wasn't one she wanted to forget either.

The door hissed opened. Two guards stepped in with a man in between them. He was muscular, kind of tall, and rather young looking. Barnette read the name tags that were stenciled on their chest. One red Trig and the other read Shamrock. From her talks with William she knew Trig was a female. She stood a little taller than Shamrock, but was thinner. Both carried vintage 9mm pistols. She banked on them being the same model she used for target practice back on the _Nirvana_.

"My name is Richard Pool," the man introduced himself with a thick accent. His posture was ramrod straight, his arms behind his back, his head almost held high if he didn't have to look down at her, and an air of authority matches only by Meia or B.C. "I'm the Captain of this vessel. My squadron pulled you out of the wreckage of a downed aircraft over CPA113. I want you to know that this meeting is being recorded. We have four more guards outside with bigger guns if you try anything. The only reason you're not in a cell right now is by my order alone. Don't make me regret this choice." 

Barnette pursed her lips together and stared past him towards the door. She could see the other guards in her minds' eye. They were probably out there with guns pointed at the door and the fourth one ready to blow it if necessary to free hostages. She turned her gaze back to the man. "Understood…"

"Good." Richard yanked a chair from the doctor, sat down beside her. The two guards moved up closer, both flanking either side of the bed. Shamrock looked bored if his posture meant anything to Barnette. Trig looked ready to pull the trigger on her gun. She was hoping for a chance to use it. "I want to know what caused you to crash on the planet. Do understand that failure to comply will result in some… violent persuasion."

"Airlock diplomacy?" she questioned heatedly. Richard didn't flinch. Barnette looked away for a moment, unhappy with all of this. Hibiki would have enjoyed this. Maybe even worshiped a chance for this to happen… "We were looking for supplies. We're on a voyage back home to our planets passed the Magnetic Storm. We came across the debris field and the station. We sent a team inside to find supplies while another squad stayed out in space to make sure we had the place on lockdown. We didn't have it that good. We got jumped by a Harvester Fleet. Before anyone could truly do anything my Dread was forced through the debris field. I got shot, the wrecked ship blew up, and the next thing I know I was going down to the planet."

"Harvester?" Shamrock spoke up. He was male.

Richard caste a sharp glance to the man. "Why are you going all the way out there?" Richard turned back to Barnette. "How'd you end up all the way out here if you're from beyond the Magnetic Storm?"

"I'm a pilot. Not a science person." Richard blinked and Barnette got the impression that another negative answer would result in the before mention diplomacy. "It had something to do with our ships before this whole mess got started. We were trying to steal a ship from the Men when they would rather see it destroyed. The vessel was one of the pioneer ships that brought us to our world and as such, we wanted it back. So as such they fired a warhead at us and the ship just sort of… warped us this far out before the missile could hit us. After that we were left to figure out what happened. We had little supplies, far away from home, and knew of a threat that was coming to our worlds."

"When you say that the ship warped you here, what do you mean by that?" Richard asked.

The door hissed open before Barnette could speak. Another guard walked in. "You're needed on the bridge, Sir." Barnette couldn't make out his name tag. He was a male though. He glanced in her direction and added, "Maggie and Cobra just sent out a distress call. They were getting attacked by something and both Guardians have been shot down."

Richard was on his feet faster than Barnette could follow. He walked out the door without a word spoken. The three guards followed in silence. Barnette's left eye twitched as she watched them leave. Her mind raced with the thought of getting back home. What were the chances she got back to them now with how everything was for her?

A/N

So I wanted to go back to the first Fic that started my thing here on this site and redo it in a more unique way than what I did last time. This time I'm breaking the story up into four parts.


	2. The Lonely Girl

Disclaimer: I don't own Vandread.

A/N

This story is entirely fan-made and fictional. Any acts that you might find offensive, disguising, inhuman, wrong or just don't like, we are not liable for. You are reading this story of your own free will and not being forced, if you don't like something we are not forcing you to stay and read it. Please leave the page and re-frame from reading the chapter and or story. All Copyrighted Characters belong to their respect owners. We don't claim anything that is not our own creation and are merely using them for fan made material.

We accept constructive criticize and help but being rude and disrespectful will not be tolerated. This is done for the fun of writing not to make every little person happy, while making people happy with are stories is great we are not here for Money, Fame or Fortune this is done for the simply joy of writing.

Act 1

The Lonely Girl

"Just because I am different doesn't mean you should hate me. Hate me for who I am. Not what I am." – Shamrock to Barnette.

Chapter 1

Barnette licked her teeth as she looked at the food she was being given to eat. It was the worst thing she had ever eaten. Before she had started her time cooking her food had tasted terrible, but this was something else entirely. It was the worst thing she had ever eaten and she had been eating for well over two months now. Though she had yet to make a full recovery, she was up and about and able to take care of herself. But she was still on the ship and still a prisoner. She got word that they were getting closer to her captives' world.

During her stay she had been subjected to over the months and a dozen more medical surgeries in order to finish her healing process. Their medical technology was nothing like that of Mejarru's technology, but it was a step up from anything the Men had back on Taraaku. If anything, the only thing that separated them was the true extent of their knowledge of the female body. William proved to be a capable doctor, far better than Duerro in her eyes. Both could be argued to care too much for their patience wellbeing but both were more scientists at heart rather than actual doctors.

For the most part their world was supposedly very similar to that of her people. It sported life, wild animals, but a good nature of their world was left untamed, either by choice or because it was impossible to tame due to wild animals. Their world was only eighty percent land and of that percentage only thirty-eight percent of it could be maintained and properly tended to. That wasn't saying that there weren't people off on their own little corner of the world, but there weren't as many doing so. The whole planet was a safety in numbers kind of place.

The biggest shock to her came from the guards speaking about wanting to be pilots. Being a pilot was like being a celebrity here. Barnette could only grasp a few of the reasons why that would be, but she understood that a good number of the pilots that existed on this ship were people with skills beyond most others. They piloted machines called Guardians and each one came in a variety of different models. At start you were given a base model and if you worked your way up the chain you got to alter it to your liking.

Each model consisted of one of three types. Each type featured a different armament that one could use. Barnette could see them each in these different types. She'd already been blessed to see the attacker model. The one she saw was a dark green that looked more like a heavily armed Dread, but it also changed into a Van-type not soon after. Though heavily armed, the transformation process was smooth and without pause. She could only guess that the other two types were Dread-types and a solid Van-type. If that was the case, she was going to go out on a limb and assume that the Van-type models were for defense only while the Dread-types were for attacking only. The one model she saw was most likely a mix between the two and could handle both forms of combat just as well as its other variations could.

While not as high up on the list for their military technology, she also grasped that they weren't as advanced as Mejarru's technology either. It was a stand thing in their military to carry around a laser ring at all times. These weapons were very effective for stunning and killing enemies. Only a few people collected the old models of guns from before the colonization era, and even then, they still weren't sought after. But their weapons seemed to be more advanced variations of the same old guns. Barnette was only slightly impressed by them for what she'd seen thus far.

And their ship, _Almighty April_ , was nothing to truly be impressed with either. It was a small thing when compared to the Motherships they had back home. It was a class below the one she had fought above in the debris field. It held no more than three hundred people at any given time. Of those three hundred people, eighteen of them managed the bridge, twenty of them maintained the engine room, at least twenty of them were pilots and the rest were marines. Barnette didn't know if her numbers were right, but she wasn't going to assume this ship could that many people.

The door to her cell opened and in stepped one of the more familiar guards she had grown slightly accustomed to. She had a short brown hair and a dark tan from too much time in the sun. Her eyes were a bright gold. She stood just a little taller than herself. Her handler name was Trig. Barnette didn't question it. It was a military thing for them.

"Doc wants to see you for a checkup." Trig opened the bars to her cell and helped her to her feet. Barnette didn't fight it. She was through fighting them. The threat of airlock diplomacy was more than enough to keep her in line for the time being. If she were back on her ship right now she'd have done the same to them if the opportunity presented itself. "After your little checkup where going to have a few more questions for you."

"Richard?" she asked hopefully. She'd had the displeasure of speaking with Avalanche. The man was either really paranoid or thorough. Barnette leaned more on him being paranoid.

"No. You'll be going back to your cell and awaiting our specialist back at command."

"Command?" she questioned fearfully.

"Yes. We're home now." Barnette felt her world go cold as the great weight of despair hit her. How far away was she from the _Nirvana_ now? Trig might have caught on to her despair. As they rounded a corner she stopped the young pirate. "With all the information you've given us, it'll give our higher-ups something to think about. Recently there have been a number of reports talking about these machines you've been telling us about. These reports are coming in from people off world."

"What are you guys? Galaxy police or something?"

Trig chuckled. "We're people trying to survive out here. We had a few neighboring people that were part of a trade group a while back and they were always picking up refuges from space stations run down by pirates and the like. Most of our Intel comes from such people. We find it more reliable at times."

Barnette got the picture. They spoke to traders, merchants, and people that had questionable backgrounds. It reminded her of the shows she used to watch back home about the good cop and the bad cop. Ironically the good cop would have friends in shady places while the bad cop would try to do things by the books but ultimately return to his bad self with a grudge against authority and walking the line. She could see them as those kinds of people. They weren't exactly good, but they were trying to be the good people that the world wanted them to do be.

As soon as Barnette stepped inside William's office she regretted it as well. She'd made an outburst against having a man look at her injuries and as such, they decided to be just a cruel to her by forcing Williams to be her doctor. With the extent of her injuries, taking her clothes off in front of him became a usual thing. Trig and another female guard stood inside the room. This one had white hair with a black lightning bolt colored into it. Her face had a scar that ran across her left cheek, up across her nose, and ended just above her eyebrow. The scar was easy to see against her chocolate skin.

"This won't take long, Barnette." William motioned to the table. Barnette complied. He looked away for a brief moment and she rolled her eyes. She pulled off the green shirt she had been given and sat on the table topless. With all the women they had on this ship, they didn't have anyone that was in her league for a bra. Williams turned back to her and began the delicate process of removing her bandages. Barnette hissed when the adhesive threatened to pull at her torn skin. "Sorry," he apologized quickly. Slowly he removed the bandages and began applying a new set to her. "Your flesh wounds have healed up nicely. Only minor scarring in a few areas. Nothing a bit of sun won't fix."

Barnette wanted to laugh at the irony in that. He made it sound like she was going to go home one day.

She threw her shirt back on and slid off the bed. It was time for her x-rays. The two guards were forced to stand further back as Barnette was subjected to the machine. Once that was finished was she was let out and was back on the bed. Her x-rays painted a different picture as opposed to her body. Though her cast on her arm had come off and the physical signs of damage were gone, her bones were still showing signs of the damage. Her ribs still showed minor cracks were time had not yet healed them. Her arm, while at about fifty percent of her normal strength, showed tears through the bones where her muscles did everything they could to hold the bone together now. Her legs had so many metal bindings in them that she couldn't go near magnets for the rest of her life. Williams assured her that they would be removed.

"You still have months of recovery ahead of you," he informed her sadly. Barnette idly wondered if he was getting paid for this. "You should be right as rain in a few months though, with the exception of your leg. As soon the bones are fully healed I can remove the bolts I put in them and then you'll just have that surgery to recover from."

"Not like it really matters," Barnette told him. William deflated. He'd heard this argument before. "You're just going to keep me in a prison cell once you have them the all clear for me. After that, I'll never see the light of day again."

He jerked his chin towards the door. Trig took Barnette by the arm. "Let's get you back to your room." Barnette let her lead her without complaint.

Trig lead her out of the room. The unknown guard and William remained behind. Once the door shut William groaned and tossed the x-rays down and tossed them at the desk. "She acts like we're going to throw her in prison for this." William cracked his neck as he continued looking over the documents of her medical record. "Lightning, do you guys intend to put her in prison when we get back?"

Lightning flexed her hand and tightened her grip on her wrist. It was a nervous habit she'd always had since she was young. "No," she said sharply. "Recent events have come to light. We established contact with command an hour ago. Seems her story isn't all false. Refuges are coming in by the dozen. Traders and merchants have mentioned something about red machines attacking colonies and other space stations."

"We've gotten in contact with command?" Lightning nodded. "Why wasn't I informed?"

"We just made contact about an hour ago. We haven't really been able to get messages out to the others. We've been following the proper chain of protocol for this situation. With all the information she's provided us with, we had to give them the report on our findings. After we gave our report we were given a file on recent reports of odd sightings and stranger stories. Several of the stories have video documentation of these odd machines. One video showed a small squadron taking down a station. They released several pods of some sort into the station moments before it was blown up in the crossfire."

"So what does this mean…?"

"Most likely she's going to walk. But for the time being we are keeping her on tight security." She leaned against the desk. "We'll be docking soon. Once we've docked, get ready to transfer over all the paper documents you have on her medical records." Lightning pushed off the desk and marched to the door. She stopped short of the doorframe as it slid open. "Richard will want to speak to you first about the medical documents before you transfer them over. Said something about mending documents and such."

"Raven?" Lightning shivered at the name. "I'll get to work on it."

(-)

Barnette lifted her shirt and started at the scar on her abdomen with a frown. Time in the sun wouldn't fix this. She was damaged. No woman would look at her the same way. Would Jura even look at her the same way anymore? She doubted it. Jura was about perfection, but she wasn't as prude to snoop to that level.

Putting her shirt down she marched over to her cot and collapsed on it. The ship was supposed to be docking in a few minutes and once it was finishing docking she was to be transferred to a holding cell to get prepped for her interrogation. In a matter of hours she was going to be thrown in a smaller cell than this one and then possibly executed just for being a pirate. Would they shoot her or poison her?

The door parted with a hiss of gas. Barnette sat up straight. Trig stood in the doorframe with her arms crossed. "We're going to be docking soon." Barnette crossed her arms in silent defiance. Trig gave her a disarming smile. Barnette was not happy. Trig stepped up to the cell and unlocked it. Barnette became confused. "Let's go for a walk. Just the two of us."

"This is going to be airlock diplomacy, is it?" Trig arched a delicate brow and shook her head. Not seeing any alternative, she humored her and followed. "Where are we going?"

"I figured we go check out the hanger. Have a look at something." Barnette shrugged and followed after her. "So who are you beyond your name and title as a pirate? Surely some such as yourself would have a bigger name for yourself."

Barnette inhaled deeply as she followed her through the crowded hallways of the ship. She ignored everyone as she followed after her. "What do you wanna know?"

"Whatever you wanna tell me about your life," Trig replied carelessly.

Barnette rolled her eyes, unhappy with the unorthodox probing. They passed a window and she finally saw the beautiful void that was space. The sight she was greeted to was not pleasant. It was a place devoid of color and life. They hovered over a planet of bland dark greens and minor patches of dark blue. In one small section she could vaguely make out lights as the city was either waking up or going to sleep. It was hard to till which was happening. The sun was beyond her field of view, but she couldn't see any form of light from anywhere.

Aside from the planet, the only other thing she could see was a space station with similar ships to the ones that made up the debris field. They looked like old shotguns without the handle. They flew in pairs of two and orbited a nasty looking space station armed to the teeth with missiles and turrets. From her angle it looked as though it was half the size of the planet, but she was pretty close to it so that wasn't saying much. The entire station looked alive with ships refueling, docking to release passengers, and heading out for their patrols or to go on to their next trade route.

"Back home this would be considered heresy. We don't commune with men. They're our enemy."

"You make that sound like you live on a planet with only females."

"You make that sound like you're don't like the very thought of that."

"Let's just say my preference in partners leaves a lot to be desired with my family and leave it at that." Barnette could see a picture forming in her mind about this woman. She acted like someone you'd see at a party, living it up, and spending time with bad people in cheap hotels. "But since you're not in a talking mood, I'll talk. You're machine has technology and a power source that seems rather… sentient. Is that common on your world?" Barnette pursed her lips as they continued walking. "Just so you know, the people that will be talking to you will be males, so I'd lose the attitude if you want to have a chance at getting back home."

They entered an elevator. Barnette remained quiet the whole trip. The elevator came to a stop and the doors parted. Barnette could smell gas, oil, and smoke. She knew the smell belonged to that of a hanger bay. She didn't get two steps out of the elevator before her suspicion was confirmed. She could see of few of the aircraft being worked on. One of them was getting its armored stripped away to work on something with more hydraulics and wires than Hibiki's Vanguard. A couple of mechanics were busy looking it over when one of them took notice of her.

Barnette paid them no mind. Trig lead her through the mess of metal and tools that were scattered along the floor. They passed a few more people before they came across a slab of half melted metal that was blackened from high heat. Part of if was a familiar purple. The shape was almost unrecognizable until she saw the white pod that had been cracked apart from intense force placed on it. It was her Dread. They had salvaged it… most of it anyways.

"We salvaged it. Brought it here and tried to power it up. Thought it might have more information on it to back up your story." Trig crossed her arms and walked around it slowly. Barnette knelt down at touched it. The damage was worse than what she expected. There was no way that she should have walked away from this without the miracle hand of god on her shoulder. "I brought you down here to have a look at it. Thought you could bring it to life. One of our engineers thinks it might be voice or finger print locked."

Barnette jumped up on top of the melted wing and reached inside the canopy to pop it. The engineers that were under it came out and watched her go to work in the cockpit. Barnette was quick to work on bringing it online. The lights lit up and the engine hummed to life but died just as quickly it came on. Barnette tried to bring it up again but with no luck. Sighing, she jumped out and went under the craft herself. She tore a control panel off and looked at the wires. Most of them were melted or fused together. What few survived were not important to the systems she was trying to bring online.

The pirate tossed the panel out from under the Dread and moved to another panel. She tore it off and fell into despair.

The Dread's main and secondary power sources were blown. The main one had been fried by an overload of some kind and subjected to the high heat after the heat shielding failed. The secondary power source was cracked almost cleanly in half while the inside has been smashed to bits. She shoved herself out from under the Dread and growled as she jumped back up into the cockpit to rip up the panel and mess with the wires.

"So how bad is it?"

Barnette looked over the broken glass to stare at Trig. "What kind of handler name is Trig?"

"It's short for Trigger Happy." Barnette went back to searching for some good wires to work with. "It was a nickname when I joined. They gave me a gun and I fired on the targets without pause. After training they took notice of my efficiency with guns, slapped it on to my title as a pilot and my acting CO gave me the handler name. Everyone shortened it to what it is now." Barnette grunted in acknowledgment as she tossed another panel away. The wires inside were melted through as well. "What are you looking for exactly?"

Barnette huffed and sat back on the torn chair. "I was hoping to get some power to the subsystems and activate the radio. Try and get in contact with my ship and see if they can find me to pick me up."

"We tried bringing the subsystems back online. But we didn't know what we were looking for." Trig leaned over into the cockpit and touched a few buttons. The screen flickered to life for a moment but died soon after. "I'm guessing this thing isn't locked by some random code or finger print?" Barnette shook her head. "We pulled the flight recorder out of the thing. It was pretty banged up. The outer casing was melted and the wires inside were either fused together or just ripped apart from the damage this thing went through. We were lucky to pull anything out of it."

"Well the two power systems my Dread uses are broken and melted," Barnette huffed. She clambered out of the wreckage and ran a hand through her hair. She wanted to shoot something. She needed the release. "Where's the flight recorder?"

"One of the techs has it. It's part of your investigation right now. You can take a look at after we're done with it." Barnette huffed again, unhappy by the news. "Were you thinking of rewiring it into the power grid in hopes of it acting as a small power source to bring up the main systems?"

"I figured I'd try. It has its own power source, no matter how weak it is."

"Smart move but you'd run the risk of destroying the box entirely. If that happens, you can't prove anything to anyone." The pirate tightened her jaw and jumped under the craft again.

"Why'd you bring me down here?" Barnette asked while under the broken Dread. "Wanting to learn more about my ship and who I am? See if I'm telling you all the truth about my life and what I've been fighting for the past few months."

The ship shuddered and Barnette scrambled out from under the wreckage of her machine. A few of the engineers cheered and praised god. "I got you out of your cell because I was ordered to. It had nothing to do with getting information. It's got to do with something else. Come on. Let's get your cleaned up and prepped for your big day in court. This will be fun."

Barnette felt dread hit her again. She wanted to jump in her Dread and fly away as fast as possible. Casting one last glance at her fallen ship, she accepted her fate. She was going to die here on a planet as a stranger and a foreigner.


End file.
